Was Caroline Carruthers a meek companion to the Dowager Hartville, or the determined young woman Lord Hartville occasionally glimpsed? In either case, he avoided her, because he was sure his mother intended her as his wife. But when a child appeared at his estate—and called him “papa,” his denials seemed to irritate the talented Caroline. Regency Romance by Laura Matthews; originally published by Signet Views: 24
"I'm British, so I'm medically dead inside, but even I can't help but open up whenever I talk to Marc. He uses his honestly like a scalpel, cutting himself open in front of anyone he's talking to, and in doing so, invites you to do the same."—John OliverFrom thebeloved and wildly popular podcast WTF with Marc Maron comes a book of intimate, hilarious and life changing conversations with some of the funniest, and most important people in the world like you've never heard them before. Waiting for the Punch features the stories and thoughts of such luminaries as Amy Schumer, Mel Brooks, Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Sir Ian McKellen, Lorne Michels, Judd Apatow, Lena Dunham, Jimmy Fallon, RuPaul, Louis CK, David Sedaris, Bruce Springsteen, and President Obama.This book is not simply a collection of these interviews, but instead something more wondrous: a running narrative of the world's most recognizable names working through the... Views: 24
From Publishers Weekly Just one look at Coben's latest stand-alone thriller (after No Second Chance) highlights the author's customary strengths (swift pacing, strong lead characters) but also his weaknesses, including limited originality and, in this case, a plot so complicated that many final pages are devoted to sorting it out. The premise is simple enough: suburban housewife Grace Lawson collects some pictures at the local Photomat; inexplicably, one is an old print depicting her husband, Jack, with other college students; when Grace shows the photo to Jack, he drives away-and disappears. Grace's hunt for her missing husband, whom we learn has been kidnapped (but why? and Coben fans will note that the author's last novel also hinged on a kidnapped family member), sweeps her back into a nightmare she thought she'd escaped: the evening years ago when she survived a rock concert rampage, occasioned by a shooting that left many dead. Meanwhile, Eric Wu, a-dare we say?-inscrutable martial-arts killer who has snatched Jack for reasons unknown, menaces assorted folk. Eventually Grace, aided by a Gotti-like mobster whose child was killed in the rampage, gloms on to Wu, as well as on to Jack's sister, a high-powered attorney who, it turns out, is representing the guy who started the rampage by firing his gun. Only he didn't start the rampage after all, and then there's the rock star who vanished after the shooting and resultant mayhem-what's he now doing on Grace's doorstep? This is all as complicated as a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle and about as hard to figure out, although in the midst of the murk there are some wonderful character touches. Coben can write thrillers that lift readers off their seats; this one, alas, will have them slumping. From Booklist If the trick of suspense writing is to get readers to identify so passionately with the beleaguered principal character that they disappear into the story, feeling the knife points of tension themselves, then Coben is the Houdini of the form. Coben, who has won the Trifecta of mystery writing-the Edgar, the Anthony, and the Shamus Awards-likes to burst the bubble of suburban security by having his characters' well-ordered, happy lives upended in ways that mirror readers' fears. In his four stand-alone thrillers, the past comes back to bite or haunt the protagonist, or the present vanishes in one fatal moment. In this latest excursion into the dark, a suburban mother finds one picture that does not belong in the pack of family outing photos she's just picked up. The picture, showing a group of college students, seems as if it was taken 20 years ago. One of the group looks like her husband. A girl in the group has an X drawn across her face. When Mrs. Happily Married shows the picture to her husband, he seems shaken, then leaves home. Coben ratchets up the suspense of the wife trying to find her husband with another drama, that of a serial killer in the neighborhood. A tragic accident from the woman's past intersects with her husband's secrets and the movements of the killer in ways that are satisfyingly creepy. Views: 24
In this uplifting Christmas story in Tasha Alexander's acclaimed series, Lady Emily and her husband Colin take on a case that proves the enduring power of love. Emily and Colin Hargreaves are looking forward to nothing more than spending a relaxing Christmas at their country estate, Anglemore Park, eating mince pies and playing with their sons in the falling snow. Their solitude is interrupted by a knock on the door one night, when the villagers of nearby Dunsford Vale come to them with strange tales of a barghest—a mythical black dog with red eyes and enormous teeth and claws—that has been wreaking havoc on the town. Never ones to be taken in by local superstitions, Colin and Emily team up to find an explanation behind the bizarre events. When a grieving young woman in town receives a mysterious and beautiful gift after a visit from the barghest, Emily and Colin begin to suspect that the beast is more man than monster. Racing through the... Views: 24
When former banana-grower Edris Tidson hears of a possible sighting of a water-naid he insists that his wife, her aunt Prissie and Prissie's young ward Connie, travel with him to Winchester in search of the nymph. As tensions rise between Connie and Edris, Prissie invites part-timwe Freudian Mrs Bradley to join them and unofficially observe Edris and his growing obsession. Then two young boys are found drowned and speculation mounts that the naid is luring them to her deaths. Can Mrs Bradley unravel the mysteries hidden within the river? Views: 24
The first full account of the Flint, Michigan, water scandal, an American tragedy, with new details, from an award-winning Michigan journalist who has covered the story from its beginningsWhen the people of Flint, Michigan, turned on their faucets in April 2014, the water pouring out was poisoned with lead and other toxins. Through a series of disastrous decisions, the state government had switched the city's water to a source that corroded Flint's aging lead pipes. Complaints about the foul-smelling water were dismissed: the residents of Flint—a largely poor African American city of about 100,000 people—were not seen as credible, even in matters of their own lives.It took 18 months of activism and a band of dogged outsiders to force the state to admit that the water was poisonous. But this was only after 12 people died and Flint's children suffered irreparable harm. The long battle for accountability and a humane response to this... Views: 24
Named a Best Book of Summer by PureWow * Betches * Refinery29 * Parade * PopSugar * Bustle * Working Mother * Town & Country * Thought Catalog * Literary Hub * Brides "A twisted modern love story." —Parade "Everything you could ever want in a summer read." —USA TODAY Everyone remembers the one. No, not that one. The other one. The one you couldn't let go of. The one you'll never forget.Lucy Albright is far from her Long Island upbringing when she arrives on the campus of her small California college, and happy to be hundreds of miles from her mother, whom she's never forgiven for an act of betrayal in her early teen years. Quickly grasping at her fresh start, Lucy embraces college life and all it has to offer—new friends, wild parties, stimulating classes. And then she meets Stephen DeMarco. Charming. Attractive. Complicated. Devastating.... Views: 24
